KOZHIKODE: Sreedhanya Suresh, the 26-year-old girl who became the first person from a tribal community in Kerala to crack the civil services exam in 2018, is set to join as Assistant Collector (on training) in Kozhikode.
A native of Pozhuthana panchayat in Wayanad, Sreedhanya belongs to the Kurichiya community and had to tread a long and difficult path before cracking the dream career when she scored 410 national rank in the civil services.
With Kerala attracting global attention in the way it's fighting the coronavirus pandemic, she couldn't ask for a better time to join the service. Sreedhanya, who is under training in Mussoorie, however, has to undergo two weeks quarantine before joining as Assistant Collector in Kozhikode, officials said.
To work under her role model
While working as Project Assistant in government tribal development in Wayanad, Sreedhanya was attracted to IAS by directly witnessing the respect people showered on then Mananthawady sub-collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao.
Sreedhanya had an interaction with the sub-collector which ignited her passion to become a civil service officer. Interestingly, Rao is the Kozhikode district Collector now and Sreedhanya is deputed to work under him.
She completed her degree from St Joseph’s College Devagiri in Kozhikode and post-graduation from the Calicut University campus. She cracked the civil service exam on her third attempt.
"We’re immensely proud of her. Her success will be a big inspiration to others, especially those belonging to backward communities," were the remarks of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan when she entered the civil service.
Her father Suresh and mother Kamala are daily wage workers who worked under the MNREGA scheme. Her elder sister is a last grade government servant and her younger brother is a polytechnic student.